The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-02-11
sHARPsHOOTER8 AT PETERSBURG

An Ex-Confederate Tells of Some EIpe-
riences while in the Trenches.
GThe .narrowest escape 1 ever had" said
a welI-known lieutenant of police In Bal !
timore "yas in front of Peters burg"
9Mv regiment was in Picketts division
of Longstreets corps. and another fellow |
and / were in trench together. We were |
at the front of the line The other fellows |
name was Dick The trench was about |
six feet deep, and there was groove cut |
in the top of the front, through which we
did our shooting at the Yankees. When
we wanted to pop away we'd lay the gun
barrel along that groove, get quick slghC
on the enemy, pull the trigger, and then
Jump down. Dick was pig headed sorU
of chap I told him a dozen times ne
didn't have sense enough to hold his head
on his shoulders.
There was a lot of Yankee sharpshoot-
ers in front of us, and cautioned DICK 70
look out how he exposed himself tell
YOU it was dangerous for even so much as
a man's ear to get in sight of those fellows
Iheard the bullets whistling lively over
our trench, and knew by In9
sound that they were forced
balls. A forced ball, you know Is
a bullet from a bree ch-loader. 1t Is
little bigger than the diameter OF the gun
barrel. and consequently it goes out with
greater force than the ball from muZ-
zIe-loader The way we could distinguish
between the two kinds of guns was, ChaC IL
it was a breechlOader the bullet got u
Won before the report; but If 1t was
muzzle-loader the report got to you De,
fore the ball. Most all of the Yanks USED
the breech-loader, and you can just bet
vour boots we were mighty careful now
we got in their way
AS | was saying, th1 bullets We're
whistling pretty lively over our trehch. l
hon n
in the groove and pick off bIue-coat-
pick was standing in front of the groove
Dutting in q charge. He had MS eye az
Tn, breech of his gun examining IL, anu
the side of his head was turned toward
the groove While he was standing tnere
it was not more than hall a minute al
together-one of the forced balls CAME
SINGING through the groove and boreu
hole clear through his head as Dig as
walnut He fell dead. L stepped acr"9s
to him. and in doing so passed IN IFohC Vi
the groove. Just as | got on the oIheI
side of the trench another bullet paSSeH
through the groove and Duleu hSolL ~
the rear wall of the trench. Two oI Il
balls followed it, and buried themselves
in the Identical hole made by the ms
bullet. The sharp-shOoter VINO ota 'i''''
neat lob was half-mile away.
~Prettv good shooting" suggested on
of the listeners.
81 ShOTIld say So" SAID Ine llouO0hN -
with an expressive shrug of the shoulders
aSoTne of those Yankee sharpshooterS
,Uare marvellous They had little CeIe
sconas ON their rifles that would fetch
nan mn close until he seemed to be aoou
onIv 100 wards away from the muZz'e
I've seen them pick man OH VINO " do
mile away. They could hit so Iar yo'
couIdn't hear the report of the gun. 1ol
wouldn't have any idea that anybody wa
in sight of YOU and all of sudden wiz
everything as silent as the grave anu NJ
q sound of a gun, here would come SKIP
ming along one of those forced oaIls an'
cnt a hole clear through you.
"How we used to lay for these sh''rP
shooters though" he said, chuckhng
Ibe remembrance. WED keep lookou
for every little puff of smoke. The sharp
shooters. YOU know, mostly climbed Tree
and hid themselves in the BRAN hes' %
every time they'd shoot there'd De Cen
tale nuff of smoke come out OF the c[e'
LIST as soon as We d see one of those HUI
nnffs of smoke the entire battery Woul
rpin shot and shell into that tree, an
weld make it so hot for the sharpsnooCe
that he'd either tumble or crawl. ".
= oed or alive. The best shooters were
tho Union army. Most OF them cam
from the west, and many or them III ia
baen scor1ts in the Indian country Liz
raraIv missed man at the u1sOahIe
mile Indeed, they could hit any oU ~,
% bic, as a pie plate that far away. "-Ch
nauo T edper